Windsheild Repair Kit for those of you driving your Mopars

[PatS....]

This is from a blog written by a couple who are full-timing in their unique bus. They are also Red Cross volunteers who were on site in the bus for hurricane Katrina.

This blog entry deals mostly with he use of a neat little windsheild repair kit they got from Wal-Mart. The bus they have (a Neoplan) is a very limited edition unit and glass is scarce and expensive.

Scroll down a bit for the glass repair part.

http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/2007/09/arkansas-2-odyssey-0.html

[BobT-47P15]

And....here's a question about those windshield repairs on our old cars.

Mine still has original glass. Someone in the glass business once said they did not feel that the chip repair should be done on a glass that old....might not jive with the glass.

Anyone have info or thoughts on that??

[Ed Griffin]

Didnt read the article but thoughts are this. I've used the window repair kits a couple of times and glad I did. They helped in preventing the window from cracking and somehwat covered up the blemish.

On another note the idea of using something that compress's material into the hole to solidify doesnt sound too hot with an old windshield that is already prone to seperate because of it's age.

[norrism1]

Old timer told me if the glass has a green edge it's still good. If the edge is clear the glass is brittle and should be replaced.

[Norm's Coupe]

Here's a "For What It's Worth Department" statement. Keep in mind, I'm not an expert and really don't know if this is right or wrong.

When I had the quarter window cut for my coupe back in 1995 it was done by an old time glass company. The guy cutting it was the owner of the company. While cutting it he said that the old windshield glass used in our cars was not as safe as the new glass. Said the old glass would break in chunks instead of shattering.

So........based on that statement, should we really try to touch up an old windshield, or just replace it? Since I really don't know that answer, I'll err on the safe side should I need to repair the glass. I'll just repair it with the safer new glass. IMHO it's best to be safe than sorry.

[Normspeed]

Tell you what Norm, if you have a 53 or a 54 Plymouth, you'd go to a lot of alternatives before you'd replace the windshield. Darned things are rare as hens teeth.

[Jerry Roberts]

When we go to a glass shop and have a piece of flat glass cut for our vehicles , it is the glass which breakes into the dangerous shards . It is two sheets of glass sandwiched with a sheet of clear plastic in between . If it were the tempered glass , which breakes into less dangerous bits , it couldn't be cut .

[Jerry Roberts]

Is anyone making windshields for these old vehicles with tempered glass ? I don't know but I suspect not . The old windshields that I have seen were all the dangerous glass . I have heard that the rear windows in the 1939 - 1947 dodge trucks were tempered glass though .

[PatS....]

Here's a "For What It's Worth Department" statement. Keep in mind' date=' I'm not an expert and really don't know if this is right or wrong.

When I had the quarter window cut for my coupe back in 1995 it was done by an old time glass company. The guy cutting it was the owner of the company. While cutting it he said that the old windshield glass used in our cars was not as safe as the new glass. Said the old glass would break in chunks instead of shattering.

So........based on that statement, should we really try to touch up an old windshield, or just replace it? Since I really don't know that answer, I'll err on the safe side should I need to repair the glass. I'll just repair it with the safer new glass. IMHO it's best to be safe than sorry.[/quote']

It's the tempered safety glass which breaks into little pieces, which it is supposed to do. All the glass on your modern car except the windshield is tempered glass.

The windshield on modern cars and on our old Mopars is "laminated safety glass" which has plastic laminated in the middle so the driver and passengers don't get hurt by the big shards of regular glass or the little pieces of tempered glass in the eyes. It is also designed to keep occupants from being thrown from the vehicle. Tempered glass in the windshield would shatter at most rock chips rather than get a star.

The kit in the linked article is ONLY for safety glass which would be found in factory windshields since 1927 or so.

[Normspeed]

Pat, you answered a question I've wondered about before. I knew modern windshields were still safety glass but didn't know the reason. Thanks for that bit. I think I'll look for one of those kits, I have one minor stone ding I'd like to fix. The glass hasn't chipped out at all, it's just a bullseye crack.